Wesite design should be focused, clean and simple.

That's not to say that all websites should be minimalist, but that we should use as few features as are necessary to achieve what you need to achieve.

Unnecessary elements should be stripped out of the design.

The result is that you have to look at the content. You find yourself interacting with exactly the screen features the designer intended.
And you don't mind - it's easy, and you get just what you came for.

Why simplicity is good

• Websites have goals and all web pages have purposes.
• Users' attention is a finite resource.
• It's the designer's job to help users to find what they want (or to notice what the site wants them to notice)
• Stuff on the screen attracts the eye. The more stuff there is, the more different things there are to notice, and the less likely a user is to notice the important stuff.
• So we need to enable certain communication, and we also need to minimise noise. That means we need to find a solution that's does its stuff with as little as possible. That's economy, or simplicity.

Why simple navigation is better

Users need to be able to identify navigation, which tells them various important information:

• Where they are (in the scheme of things)
• Where else they can go from here.
• And what options they have for doing stuff.

Following the principle of simplicity, and general reduction of noise, the best ways to clarify navigation are:

• Positioning permanent navigation links apart from content.
• Differentiating navigation using colour, tone and shape.
• Making navigation items large and bold.
• Using clear text to make the purpose of each link unambiguous. B&BD